Conservatives more honest than liberals

[GaHillBilly 10]

"Conservatives more honest than liberals"

 

It's not my title, but I just couldn't resist. Apparently, a series of surveys have found that political liberals are considerably more likely to lie, cheat, or steal than conservatives. Here's the article:

http://www.examiner.com/a-1419425~Peter_Schweizer__Conservatives_more_honest_than_liberals_.html

OR

http://tinyurl.com/4dqvj7

 

GaHillBilly

[Venividi 35]

I suppose that they consider Jack Abramhoff, Tom Delay, etc. to be liberals.

[TheScout 10]

Dude, did you even read the article?

[John-in-KC 311]

As a conservative...

 

What a crock of excrement. It stinks.

 

The biggest single reason we Republicans/conservatives are going to be taken to the cleaners in this election cycle is we lost our moral anchors (rock solid integrity) and our political ethical anchors (spend for very good reasons).

 

 

[Gold Winger 9]

Interesting. It agrees with that which I have believed for a long time.

 

 

[GaHillBilly 10]

A couple of notes:

 

1. "more honest" doesn't equal "honest", just like "lighter" doesn't equal "white".

 

As noted there are plenty of dishonest conservatives. And, personally, I don't believe anyone is completely honest. The title would have about the same meaning if it read, "conservatives are crooks less often than liberals".

 

But, please note the article was specifically NOT about politicians themselves. I'm not sure if it's even possible to be really honest AND be elected to a major political position in the USA.

 

 

2. Yes *dude*, I read the article. Did you?

 

The article does NOT say conservatives are "honest", or "good" or "generous" or any other such thing. It just says that, by self-report, self-described liberals are less honest than self-described conservatives.

 

(By the way, if you want to challenge the article skillfully, a better ploy would be to argue that one could interpret the surveys to indicate that conservatives are just as dishonest as liberals, but that liberals are more honest about being dishonest! There's no *evidence* within the article for this, but there's no *evidence* to the contrary either. I'm sure you could find many here who'd consider such an argument as plausible. Given that lots of folks can't distinguish "plausible" from "proven", you quickly gain some who'd think you'd proven your point.)

 

 

3. I don't think -- speaking as a long-time but unenthusiastic Republican -- that Republicans ever had "rock-solid" "moral anchors" OR "ethical anchors". I've known some powerful Republicans who I could absolutely trust not to steal from me ONLY because I never had enough to interest them. And I've known some religious-right Republicans who I consider to be major hypocrites.

 

BUT . . . again, the article was NOT about politicians.

 

(If you want to talk politicians, it certainly appears to me that the majority of Presidents who were *personally* honest during my life time were Republicans. Nixon, obviously, was not among the honest. And, Carter was among the personally honest, even though he's a total airhead, in spite of his high IQ! But, none of the other Democratic presidents, in terms of personal honesty, came close to George H W Bush, much less Gerald Ford!)

 

 

One more time: the article speaks about honesty *comparatively*, not *absolutely*, and it's talking about NON-politicians who took surveys. Also, the writer is not precisely arguing a point, so much as *reporting* the outcome of a number of surveys.

 

 

GaHillBilly

[TheScout 10]

I was commenting to Venividi who it seems missed the point that it was not about politicians.

[packsaddle 753]

I agree with Gregory House. Everyone lies.

But as far as lying politicians go, Dubya has to take the cake. I'd even give Nixon a big sloppy smooch if we could just have him back instead. At least he was good at doing something even if it was evil.

[Gold Winger 9]

Still wondering what W lied about. Liberals always say that but then wave their hands around when asked about it saying, "You know, um, er, um. . . someone told me that he lied . . . "

 

In the 50s people hated Truman, now he's revered as a great President.

 

Everyone loves Kennedy despite his getting us embroiled in Vietnam and abandoning the Cubans at the Bay of Pigs. Where's the integrity there?

[packsaddle 753]

Gold Winger, have you heard of Scott McClellan?

OK, specifically, Dubya lied to the entire country regarding the existence of WMD. In fact, nearly everyone in the administration lied about it at one time or another. That tops the list.

And now they spin (in other words, lie) about that lie, claiming they had faulty intelligence. It was faulty all right. And they knew it when they made the decision. Lies. Big ones. Costly ones.

 

I would add that I think Ike was as straight with us as was Truman. Carter too, and Ford.

 

Edited part: I wonder if anyone considered the possibility that so-called 'liberals' might be more willing to admit their lies, thus merely making so-called 'conservatives' better at it? Oops, I see that my fellow 'Hill-William' has already noted that. Sorry.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[GernBlansten 10]

This is too easy GW. Waving my arms frantically, pointing to the link below....

http://www.bushlies.net/liesatoz.html

[Gold Winger 9]

"OK, specifically, Dubya lied to the entire country regarding the existence of WMD."

 

I'm not convinced that there were no WMDs, especially since Hussein used them in the past. The UN gave him so much time to clean up, in that time, I could make it look like there had never been a labrador retriever in my house.

 

As for the other stuff, Gern, you and yours have very little credibility with me. Like most liberals, you bend reality to fit your hypocrisies.(This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

[fgoodwin 23]

This article was obviously written to be provocative and to promote Schweizer's new book. It is about as objective as something Ann Coulter might write to promote one of her books. Schweizer is clearly a conservative idealogue, so is it no surprise that he fills his article (and books) with studies that promote conservatism over liberalism.

[packsaddle 753]

Thanks Gern, for that sickeningly complete link.

[packsaddle 753]

Gold Winger, you're not convinced? Hey, no less than Dubya himself eventually admitted there are (and were) no WMD. Are you calling him...you know...a liar?

 

Edited part: Pales in comparison? So Willie got himself a little strange and how many people are dead as a result?(This message has been edited by packsaddle)